By Isabel Demetz and Marleen Kaesebier
(Reuters) -Shares of German packaging and medical equipment maker Gerresheimer jumped around 4% in early trading on Tuesday after the company announced plans to sell its moulded glass business late on Monday.
Gerresheimer had been undertaking a “strategic review” of the unit since 2024 and said it will now begin the separation process immediately.
“We see the best growth opportunities for our newly formed moulded glass powerhouse outside the Gerresheimer Group,” Gerresheimers’ Chief Executive Dietmar Siemssen said in a statement.
The decision comes after activist Asset Value Investor published an open letter in June in which it urged the company to take steps to improve its business.
Those steps included potentially divesting its moulded glass business, a move supported by two other top-30 investors.
The moulded glass business produces glass packaging for the food and beverage and cosmetic industry.
“In our view, this is the right move, as it will give Gerresheimer a better growth and margin profile,” Christian Reindl, Portfolio manager at Union Investment, said.
Union Investment was among the investors that welcomed a divestment of the moulded glass business.
Reindl added that shares of the packaging maker are heavily shorted likely because hedge funds are betting on a capital increase. The sale would significantly reduce debt and make a capital increase very unlikely, he said.
Gerresheimer, which makes rounded jars for creams and roll-on bottles for deodorants, had issued its first guidance cut of the year a few days prior to the letter.
Ongoing low demand in the cosmetics and oral liquids markets led to a second guidance cut in July.
With the split, the company now wants to transform into a “pure-play system and solution provider for the pharma and biotech industry”.
Gerresheimer already makes pens used to inject weight loss drugs such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy.
The company said it will provide further updates at its Capital Markets Day on October 15 2025.
Its shares were up 3.9% at 0723 GMT, but down 37.5% year-to-date.
(Reporting by Isabel Demetz and Marleen Kaesebier in Gdansk)
